What do we
know about and what can we learn from the man referred to as John the
Baptist?

Was John a
special person or just another preacherwho told of Christ's coming?
I believe we have not given credit to where credit is due. John was
signaled out in Scripture by God Himself in the following verses.

We see from
Scripture that even before the birth of John the Baptist, God was
working in the lives of John's parents. In Luke we see the following:

There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judaea, a certain priest
named Zacharias, of the course of Abia: and his wife was of the daughters
of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth. And they were both righteous
before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord
blameless. And they had no child, because that Elisabeth was
barren, and they both were now well stricken in years. And it came to pass, that while he executed the priest's office
before God in the order of his course, According to the custom of
the priest's office, his lot was to burn incense when he went into the
temple of the Lord. And the whole multitude of the people were
praying without at the time of incense. And there appeared unto
him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of
incense. And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear
fell upon him. But the angel said unto him, Fear not,
Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee
a son, and thou shalt call his name John. And thou shalt
have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth. For he
shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor
strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his
mother's womb. And many of the children of Israel shall he
turn to the Lord their God. And he shall go before him in
the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to
the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready
a people prepared for the Lord. And Zacharias said unto the angel,
Whereby shall I know this? for I am an old man, and my wife well stricken
in years. And the angel answering said unto him, I am Gabriel,
that stand in the presence of God; and am sent to speak unto thee, and to
shew thee these glad tidings. And, behold, thou shalt be dumb, and
not able to speak, until the day that these things shall be performed,
because thou believest not my words, which shall be fulfilled in their
season. And the people waited for Zacharias, and marvelled that he
tarried so long in the temple. And when he came out, he could not
speak unto them: and they perceived that he had seen a vision in the
temple: for he beckoned unto them, and remained speechless. And it
came to pass, that, as soon as the days of his ministration were
accomplished, he departed to his own house. And after those days
his wife Elisabeth conceived, and hid herself five months, saying, Thus hath the Lord dealt with me in the days wherein he
looked on me, to take away my reproach among men.

Luke 1:5-25

So as we can see, God was working
in a special way in the lives of John the Baptist's parents. A
special anointing was upon both his parents even before he was conceived.

Matthew 3:1-3 "In those days came John the
Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. For this
is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one
crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths
straight." This verse shows us that John was more than
just a man, he was a special messenger used by God to foretell the coming
of His Son the Living Messiah.

John 1:6, "There
was a man sent from God, whose name was John." Once again
we see the special anointing given to John by God.

Matt. 11:11, "Verily
I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a
greater than John the Baptist..." This is mighty high
praise for just a common man wouldn't you think.

With these three verses we see not
only a man but a tribute to a man who not only recognized his calling but
also one who faithfully carried out his calling as God had ordained of
him. So, I think we can all agree that John the Baptist was a special
person in God's eyes. As you might have noticed, John received his name
not from his parents but by God Himself. Now that is special no
matter what we may think!

What was John the Baptist like?
Was he like everyone else? Did he live at home and do the things
other men did? Did he own a home and have a good job? Was his
life really any different? Let's see what Scripture tells us about the
life of John.

1. An angel of the Lord announced
his coming to parents too old to have children and to a wife who was
barren, Luke 1:8,11.

2. The name John was given by the
angel before conception, Luke 1:13. All of us would be honored to be
named by God Himself.

3. He was not a Nazarite as was
Samson and others, but he was not to partake of alcohol, Luke 1:15.

4. He would be "...filled
with the Holy Ghost, even from his motherís womb," Luke 1:15.

5. His dress
of camelís hair and a leathern girdle about his loins.. Matt. 3:3,4
I see no where else in Scripture where the other people dressed this
way. This must have been a sacrifice by John as he more than likely had no
money to purchase regular clothing.

6. He
ate locusts and wild honey; Matthew 1:6 Now I don't know about
you, but to eat locust is just not something I believe I would like to
acquire a taste for .

7. Speak ye comfortably
to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her
iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the LORD's hand double for
all her sins.The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness,
Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for
our God.Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill
shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough
places plain:And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all
flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.
Isaiah 40:2-5, This shows us that John's life was not normal in
the sense that his life was talked about 100's of years before his birth.

8. And I knew
him not: but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me,
Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the
same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. John 1:33
Here we see that John knew that he was SENT by God to baptize therefore
having a different type of job than others of his day.

9. But when
he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said
unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the
wrath to come?Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance:And think not
to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto
you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore
every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into
the fire.I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance. but he
that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to
bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:Whose fan
is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his
wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable
fire. Matthew 3:7-12 What we see here is a message spoken
for the first time concerning the Gospel of Jesus Christ! John spoke
of the coming of Jesus who would baptize with the Holy Ghost, he spoke of
the need to repent, he spoke of the purging of the believers to Him and
the unbelievers to the lake of fire.

So we see that John was indeed
different from others of his day and age. He lived in the
wilderness, ate strange foods, wore strange clothes and preached a strange
message, one that was not heard of before.

John the Baptist shows us a man who
was willing to be something other than the normal. He was willing
to live for years alone in the wilderness with no one to keep him company
save from the Lord Himself. John was willing to do without
the everyday necessities that I imagine others of his day took for
granted, like a place to sleep under away from the inclement weather, a
stove to cook on, clothes to wear that would be comfortable, decent shoes
for his feet, decent food and the understanding that he would not have a
job like regular guys and get paid for what he was doing. Basically
what it all boils down to is that John was willing to sacrifice his
life (without knowing it was coming to that) for the work that he
was ordained by God to do. The life that John lived could not have
been a comfortable one. It could not have been a life that showed
lots of laughter and joy, even though we know little of the day to day
life in the wilderness. John's life was very special. He
gave of himself willingly. He was not virgin born as Christ was
but he certainly was specially anointed. He gave of his life while
in prison because of his preaching of the coming King of Kings. He
had nothing left to give to his children as he never married and had no
children. He willingly practiced self-denial, a
trait we all can take a lesson from. How hard must it have been to
live all that time in the wilderness being prepared for his anointed duty
and all the while having nothing for himself even as to the food he had to
eat just to survive. Yet, John the Baptist, willing denied his own
self for the God he knew and loved. We should pray we could do a
portion of what John did.

As shown above, we must be as
willing as John if we are to be able to accomplish what God has called us
to do. Maybe it's time we all took a little time to re-evaluate our
personal lives and see what we might be willing to give to God instead of
to ourselves.

NOTE: You know it is something
amazing to realize that John the Baptist was a special messenger of God,
anointed by God Himself, yet we know not even his last name. Baptist
was a name given to him in his later years of life. BUT, when you
reach Heaven, you can find him easily by just asking for John the Baptist,
everyone will know him.